The Founders Four
by something-like-love
Summary: How the four founders of Hogwarts got their reputations as the bravest, the most ambitious, the cleverest, and the most loyal, and how their destinies intertwined.


**A/N: The evil plotbunny strikes again.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own this. Duh.**

A thousand years ago in the sunny fields of Scotland an allegiance was born.

It was at a time when wiches and wizards were being persecuted for practising their magic. You see, back then we magical folk revealed our self to muggles, showed them our magic, impressed them with our power. And then it changed. The became afraid. Afraid of what we would do to them, frightened we would torture or kill them if the did wrong. So, the began to plot against us, planned to burn every witch and wizard in the land at the stake. Being a magical being was very dangerous one thousand years ago, and we slowly began to hide our power, and didn't use it in the public eye. But we found out of their desire to purge us from the Earth, to cleanse the land of "that different breed of dirty freaks."

We were scared. Scared for our life, scared for our family, scared for ourselves. Muggles may be narrow-minded and ignorant, but they existed in great numbers, and could sneak up on us in the darkness. We wanted, needed, poweful wizards, not just powerful, legendary, who would create a place of solace to protect us from our enemies and educate the young whose parents had fought and lost.

First came Godric Gryffindor.

Little Godric was raised in Scotland. He had fiery red hair and eyes as clear blue as the sky. He attended a magic school that had long succumbed to history, it's name lost to the world, but it must have been a good school, for he was famous all over the country for his skills. But the one thing that set him apart from his gifted peers was that he was braver than them all. When he was thirteen year old, he captured a rattlesnake with is bare hands. When he turned fifteen, he raced a bull down the countryside. But his true test of bravery came at age nineteen when his niece was drowning in The Lake. It may not seem like such a wonderful thing to do, swim across a lake to get her, but this was not any lake. It was The Lake, and every sea creature known to man in that day lived there, from Grindylows to Kelpies. There was a myth that some other brave soul had once swam across The Lake, but the myth went on to say he was captured by a Kelpie and devoured by gulping plimpies. It may not have been true, but it was enough to stop everyone from swimming there.  
But Godric's little niece was young and malnourished in education, so she decided to dip her feet into the cool water one hot July day. It is a fact that a grindylow grabbed her by the foot and dragged her underwater, but she managed to break it's fingers off and resurface, but could not swim, so her head almost fell below the water forever. Godric was on the other side of the lake, an even though he was brave he was not stupid; he knew that running around to the other side of The Lake to retrieve her would prove useless- The Lake was large and round. So, he did the only thing he could do, and jumped into the water and began to swim. Several children were outside playing when it happened, and when Godric dove into The Lake, they stared, wide-eyed, and then ran to get their mothers and fathers. And mothers in long skirts and fathers with open mouths rushed behind their children and watched as a faraway form splashed through shining blue water. To this day no one is sure what beasts tried to attack him, but if any did, he fought them off. By the time he had scooped up his niece and exited The Lake, a crowd had formed on the other side of the lake. And not one person there that day had any trouble answering when they were asked who was the bravest of them all:

"Godric Gryffindor!"

Second came Salazar Slytherin.

Salazar was raised in Austria. He had dark, inky black hair and eyes like polished emeralds. From a young age he had a penchant for business and raising money. If you were to stroll around his small neighborhood you would most likely find him sitting behind a crude wooden box, selling anything of value he could get his hands on. He sold flowers, mostly, and years later people would say how ironic, a sulky, brooding child like that selling flowers. But even though he was teased for it, he was bright enough to know that women who lived near by loved to wear fancy hats adorned with all sorts of things. So every day he made his way to the top of the highest hills for miles around, where the most beautiful wildflowers grew. He picked only the best, most colourful flowers from the bunch. He would return home and weave the ends together over and over, flowers upon flowers, until you couldn't see any stems at all, just a string of lilac and gold and blood red petals. He would display them on his rickety box, and the rich women would come and pick their favourites and delicately lay them across their expensive hats, and pay him one pound per string of flowers. Half the money went to his parents, and he kept the rest for himself. He dreamed of one day becoming a traveling merchant, selling and trading beautiful things all over Austria. Then, one day, a real merchant came to town.   
His name is lost in history, and all we know now is that he wore brown leather sandals and held a mule by some reigns as he walked into town. And Salazer wanted that mule for his father, who ran a farm, and whose horses had not been breeding lately. Salazar bargained with the merchant; offering him flowers, only the best. No, was his answer. I'll give you wonderful foods, Salazer told him. No, was the answer. On and on it went, for many an hour, and by that time a crowd had formed to watch him, to see if he could bargain that merchant out of his mule. You see, this merchant had a wife, and a baby, and needed something to soothe his child when he was in agony from his teeth coming through his soft, fleshy gums. And so Salazar, knowing this, made the trade, and left the scene with a mule for his father and the respect of everyone there.  
Salazar traded a bag of ice for that mule.  
And later, when people who watched that day were asked who was the most ambitious of them all, not one person had any trouble answering:

"Salazar Slytherin!" 

Third came Helga Hufflepuff.

Helga was raised in Ireland. She had hair the colour of freshly squeezed orange juice, and eyes the the lightest brown, like cinnamon. She was very distantly descended from a Veela. Fact: Helga's mother and father died when she was very young. Fact: Helga was taught magic by her mother's mother. Fact: Helga was the most beautiful maid in the land. Before she was even sixteen, men had been knocking on the door of her grandmother's house, asking for Helga's hand in marriage. You see, not only was Helga Hufflepuff beautiful, but her parents had defied tradition and left all of their land not to her father's parents, who were still alive and well, but to their daughter. Since she was four years old she had legally owned fifteen acres of land, a successful farm. All the residents of her small Irish village knew Helga could leave at any time with all the money she inherited, just up and leave her tight knit community for the fine clothing and precious gems of the monarchy.  
That she did, but against her will.  
The seventeen year old beauty was kidnapped, kidnapped in her sleep by a man whose name has been lost to history. She was thrown roughly into a burlap bag and carried all the way to London to be presented to the King and Queen. These Muggles, who could not understand the nature of her soft beauty, who rejected the idea of gorgeous Veela who had children and grandchildren and great grandchildren (of which Helga was one), promised her marriage to an Indian prince from far away. She stayed in the fine castle, eating only the freshest meat, drinking only the sweetest wines, donning only the richest silks, and Helga was miserable. She longed for the loving embrace of her grandmother, the tinkling laughter of the children playing outside, the warm sun on her face.  
She decided to run away.  
Doing this required a bit of smarts, some skill, and a lot of luck. She planned it all out very carefully. Helga had lived at the palace now for one year, her eighteenth birthday several weeks behind her. She had memorized schedules, and the one most crucial to the success of her escape involved the changing of the guards. Every day at exactly 10:00 AM, the palace guards changed places in an elaborate ritual. Helga and her ladies in waiting took strolls about the garden in the early morning, and Helga realized that with the guards distracted by their moving, she could slip away quite unnoticed. A simple lie to her ladies that she had dropped a coin and to go one ahead of her was all it took, and she was free.  
That is how the story goes, Helga Hufflepuff abandoning her high lifestyle in favor of the close Irish community, and when all those there at her homecoming witnessed her tears of joy, they had no trouble answering when asked who was the most loyal of them all:

"Helga Hufflepuff!" 

Fourth came Rowena Ravenclaw.

Rowena was born in Wales. Her golden hair and mint green eyes gave the appearance of a silly school girl, when she was anything but. Since a very young age her greatest joy in life was solving puzzles and riddles, a feat she marveled her family with. Not a question passed before her that she could not answer.  
Rowena's father was disliked by the people of their village. He had been widowed when Rowena and her brother were but tiny infants, and had married again not six months after his wife's tragic death, and to a community devoted to the church it was not a proper mourning period. They searched endlessly for evidence of his incompetence as a father and husband. Ministers and townspeople discovered that, when actual evidence is not found, resorting to lies works best of all. The real reason that Rowena's father was wanted dead was because his son was sickly, and soon to die. He held a large amount of land that, though Rowena would be his only rightful heir if his son died, would be passed onto the church as she was a girl.  
The summer of her sixteenth year her father was put to trial with charges of the very worst, adultery. He vehemently denied all accusations, but greedy men do not listen to an honest man's pleas. He was condemned to death by hanging.  
Her father, hoping to spare his children the horror of his death, had sent Rowena and her brother to the house of his elderly mother to live out their days. Sickly Rowan was confined to bed, but gave his sister his blessing in helping to save their father. She set out towards the church and arrived with but moments to spare. Her father was walking towards the noose when she burst into the building. She had no idea how to handle to angry, jeering crowd. She remembered her mother's voice speaking to her from a long, long time ago- _"All problems have a solution. It's just a question of whether you can find it amidst all the chaos." _  
Rowena began to speak to the crowd, using a technique later dubbed reverse psychology. With words coming switly to her head she convinced the priest and minister her father would suffer more, so much more, if "forced" to live at home with his "mistress." With her clear eyes and vacant face her lie was believed with ease. After a sufficient trial, Rowena's father was sent home.

And when all those living in her home village were asked who was the cleverest of the all, none had any difficulty answering:

"Rowena Ravenclaw!"

And this is how the Founders of Hogwarts were chosen. Though they lived in very different places and had very different personalities their destinies intertwined.

They are the Founders, and God bless the Founders of Hogwarts School.

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